The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-05-04
ON THE GRAND CANAL.
The Charms That Venice Holds fer the Re-
fsctive Tourist
Relics of Her Former Majesty What She
Was and What SheIs-vieWs
From q GOndola.

THE following letter has been received by
gentleman IN Indianapolis from Hon. Addison
e. Harris, now travelling in EuTope.I
VENICE, April 10, 1887.
DEAR -: This is the City of the Sea.
1t is about three miles from shore. The
.'rivers from the mountains brought down
sand and soil and carried it into the Adri
forming low, sandy islands. The city was
thickly populated in the time of the RO'
man occupancy. When the Goths came
down, the Romans, or some of them at
least, fed to these islands. The books say
that for long time they lived in
little matched houses and were forced,
in some measure, to become sailors.
They early became christians so that
when the English and French crusaders
were on their way to the Holy Land they
came and went by this way, as it was di-
rectly on the route. Then Venice became
q maratime city and grew rapidly in wealth
and population. The people early formed
a kind of republic and fostered educa-
ton, and therefore grew in influence, and
the city was called the "Queen of the Sea-
The rich merchants could not buy farms
for there was no land, and co they took to
building palaces. The lower rooms were
used for business, the upper for residences.
The s0il being sand they had to drive pill
ing for foundations Their trade be-
ing maratime wholly and water plenty,
they made all the principal streets water
ways, so that now there is not horse nor
a mule in the city. The land streets are
from four to twelve feet wide, while the
Grand Canal is wide enough to float Great
Eastern. The palaces were built OF brick
and marble, and three centuries ago, L
must believe, the Grand Canal was the
handsomest street then in the world. But
Columbus or Vespucius, or somebody, dis.
Al =.
going to Jerusalem to rob the Turks and
bring back the plumber to Venice for sale.
Again, it was sound that ships could sail
to India around the south eff
Africa, and Venice was doomed.
Ceasing to make money, all her
people turned to be politicians, aud in
time The city lost its colonies, its wealth,
its influence. Napoleon took it and gave
it to Austria in big trade, and finally it
came to be a part of Italy. Yesterday we
rode up an down the Grand Canal in gon-
dola. They are all black and precisely
alike. Some three hundred and fifty years
ago the rich made their gondolas so
ornate and sumptuous that the plain
people took the matter in hand and
made law fixing the size and forbidding
all olnamentatlon, requiring them to be
black, and forbldding all other form of
craft. This morning we went over to
what is called the Piazza, or Great
Square. 1t is about two acres in size.
On two sides are marble buildings. On a
third side is the palace Napoleon /. built
for the King OF Italy. On the other side
is the Church of st. Mark. In S25, they
say, the bones of the apostle were brought
here. The church is magnificent temple.
| It is in the form of Greek cross with five
| domes- There are nearly two acres of
Mosaics about the church, inside and out,
worked into all kinds of pictures. The
| floor is laid in marble and there are $40
| marble columns used in the construction
| of the building. These were brought
| from the East. The story is that each
ship was required as a tax to pay
column for the right to enter port.
Some are white, some red, and some green.
| They were formerly in temples in Asia
| and Africa. It took more than hundred
| years to complete the church, and it looks
| like the pictures OF Asiatic temples. 1t is
| claimed that the architects were from
Greece or Constantinople, but nobody now
knows who they were.
When we got to the church the jam was
so great we tailed to get in, but a half
| franc opened door to a stairway which
led up to a kind of balcony or private box,
from where we could look down on priests
and people. A cardinal dressed In red
cap ana beautiful robes read sermon
| in a splendid voice while sitting in a red
velvet and gilded chair. The congregation
stood up, as there are no seats. AT the
side altar many said their prayers and went
away. Here and there some were kneel-
ing, and throngs were coming and going
all the while. In the afternoon the pig
cons were fed in the square-hun DIR sds OF
them there are, and tame enough sit on
your arm and eat Once il was sad pig.
con they call them doves rendered the
state a great service, and thereafter they
were taken under the protection OF the
state but now they are fed by an insur
ance company ana by every visitor.